Georgia's
PM Garibashvili holds a news conference after meeting NATO
Secretary General Rasmussen at the Alliance headquarters in
BrusselsThomson
Reuters

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The leaders of Georgia and Moldova are due
to visit Washington in the next two weeks, congressional aides
said on Wednesday, in what appears to be an effort to show U.S.
support for Russia's neighbors amid the ongoing political crisis
in Ukraine.

Congressional aides said that Georgian Prime Minister Irakly
Garibashvili will be in Washington next week and Moldovan Prime
Minister Iurie Leanca will visit during the first week of March.

"I can't speak to how the invites were initiated, but Georgian
and Moldovan PMs will be in Washington, the former during the
last week of this month, and the latter in the first week in
March," said a congressional aide, who requested anonymity in
order to speak freely.

White House officials declined to confirm the planned visits.

The visits would appear to be aimed at sending a message to
Moscow that U.S. President Barack Obama's administration will
stand by the two countries during the Ukraine crisis.

Obama and other Western leaders stepped up pressure on Ukraine's
Russian-backed president, Viktor Yanukovich, on Wednesday after
26 people were killed in the country's worst violence since
independence from the Soviet Union.

The United States imposed visa bans on 20 senior Ukrainian
government officials believed to be responsible for the violent
crackdown. The European Union said it was preparing targeted
sanctions against those responsible.

Street protests have raged for nearly three months since
Yanukovich spurned a trade deal with the European Union in favor
of closer ties with Russia, although Yanukovich said on Wednesday
he had agreed to a truce with opposition leaders.

Georgia and Moldova, two former Soviet republics, are also
negotiating trade pacts with the EU. Georgia fought a brief
border war with Russia in 2008.